Mdonya Newsletter 18/02/2009

Finally it came. 9th of February 2009, Mdonya Sand River became a Water River.

It took longer this year before we could start to see any water on the surface of the river bed. In the dry season the external appearance of the river seems dead, but still we know there is life around: water is not visible but it is there underneath. So all animals, from elephant to warthog, have to work to gain one of the most important sources of life. Digging the sand is a daily activity: warthog’s holes are enlarged by zebra and impala, buffalos in turns drink and lay down in the mud created, elephants' trunks find water much deeper. These holes in the sand, from July to October, get bigger and deeper… and dryer. In November and December if good rains don’t come, buffalos and elephants need to move; dark clouds seem to approach but they don’t arrive, so better to go towards the clouds, where the water is!

The last two years January was the month of the big change, the rains arrived earlier than this year and better distributed on the escarpment from where Mdonya River emerges.
Anyway, anytime the sand river starts to flow is a unique moment!

The transformation involves everything and everybody. It starts with the noises: from Mdonya Camp we could hear water running! It happened during the night and the impression was that of somebody having left a water tap on… then one could hear the happiness of frogs and toads. A few hours later the news had spread over the rest of the park: hammer kops, fulvous whistling ducks, three-banded plovers were all in the Mdonya River getting the best positions. Some rays of sun cut through the heavy clouds, four buffalos lay in the few centimetres of water, a family of greater kudu crossed - all were giving us an impression of satisfaction.

Micol, Nick and the Staff of Mdonya Old River camp, Ruaha